Blogs from Pico, Azores, Portugal, Europe

Une fois n'est pas commune, j'ai choisi une destination toute proche de chez nous pour les vacances. Et j'ai récupéré mes sudistes en manque d'aventure pour barouder un peu ensemble: mes parents ! On part pour deux petites semaines à la découverte des Açores, destination peu touristique à mon grand bonheur... On se retrouve et on part directement vers Pico, la plus jeune des 9 îles volcaniques qui constituent l'archipel des Açores, dernière étape pour les transatlantiens avant les Amériques. On est au bout du bout de l'Europe et le dépaysement est au rendez vous. La nature est omniprésente et le paysage est tantôt lunaire, tantôt lavique et particulièrement vert. L'île est en grande partie constituée de basalte; cette pierre noire est omniprésente dans le paysage côtier et est le matériau principal de construction de magnifiques ... read more

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Part of our intrepid voyage within this archipelago is educational, and to this end, Queequeg and I are invited to attend presentations on the sciences of the ocean, ecology and of course Cetaceans. Here are some interesting things we have learned. 1. The Blue Whale is known by many names. One of these names is “Balaenoptera musculus” which means “whale wing mouse” (a joke on account of its size). Another common name is “Sulphur Bottoms”, (at which point I had to suppress my mirth, as this is indeed one of the common names I use for Queequeg) on account of a type of algae that grows on its underbelly (the whale that is, not Queequeg). 2. On account of a variety of factors, such as the exchange of cold and warm currents ie. convection, the Coriolis ... read more

Don’t get me wrong, as a self-confessed ardent supporter of the spiritual sanctity of another’s soul, I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody’s religious obligations, no matter how comical, but the more I learn of my bedfellows eccentric habits, the more I am challenged to question my own sanity. For example, Queequeg’s welts I have already mentioned, but still I cannot but keep myself from staring at them whenever they are abroad. With the appearance of a Vagia’s giant eyeballs, they seem to have their own independent minds, roving this way and that, constantly on their guard as if scanning the surroundings for signs of impending danger. I am convinced they some hypnotic powers over me as it is all I can do to tear my eyes away from them. And as for his manhood, we ... read more

From Faial the island of Pico is only 4.5 miles away. The ferry ride to Pico only cost 6.80 euro ($8.34) round trip so we decided that was the easiest way to get there. Pico is 22.7 miles long and 8 miles wide and boosts Pico Mountain the highest elevation in Portugal with a height of 2351 meters (7,713 ft.). On Sunday the 22nd we took the 9AM ferry for the ride over to the village of Madalena on Pico. This was the 4th day of the religious festival of Maria Magdalene. The original plan was to explore the village until the procession started at 6:30 PM. We quickly found out that the village was not that large and most of the points of interest were outside of town, so we rented a car. Driving ... read more